3 Days in Copenhagen, Booked Slots and Smørrebrød

This is my third time doing Copenhagen in three days, and at this point I have stopped pretending you can see everything. You cannot. What you can do is walk a lot, eat well, and pick two neighbourhoods a day instead of five.

The city is flat and compact, which is the whole trick. Almost everything below is walkable, and where it is not, there is a harbour ferry or a bus that costs nothing to figure out. I did not rent a bike this time. I did not miss it.

Here is how the three days actually went, in order, with honest notes on what deserves your time and what does not.

Day 1, The Old Centre and a Very Long Evening

Day one stays inside the old centre, which sounds obvious because it is. You start at the harbour, loop north to the castle, eat in a food hall, climb something, and then spend the evening in a theme park that is far more elegant than that description suggests. It is a lot of walking on flat ground, maybe seven kilometres across the day. Wear the shoes you trust.

Nyhavn

First stop, and go early. Around 8, before the tour groups land. I have seen Nyhavn at noon in July and it is a wall of people holding phones above their heads, which is not anyone’s idea of a good morning. At eight the canal is glassy, the boats sit still, and the ochre and red houses reflect properly.

There is not much to actually do here, which is the honest truth. You walk one side, cross, walk back. The restaurant side is the crowded side. The opposite bank is quieter and the view of the colours is better from there anyway. Souvenir shops are pricier than on Strøget, so save your kroner.

Give it 20 to 30 minutes at this hour. It is overhyped and still worth it, both things being true at once.

Fifteen minutes on foot north to Rosenborg, straight up past Kongens Nytorv.

Rosenborg Castle

Mid-morning, and book your slot before you leave the hotel. A friend of mine turned up at 3 one afternoon and was told it was sold out for the day, which is a common enough story that I now treat the timed ticket as non-negotiable. It is also cheaper online.

The castle itself is smaller than it looks from the garden. Room after room of Christian IV’s furniture, tapestries, the Great Hall with three silver lions guarding the thrones. Fine. The reason you are here is the basement. The crown jewels and the regalia are down there and they are genuinely worth the entry on their own.

Give it 60 to 90 minutes inside, then another 30 in the Royal Garden. Locals lie on that grass all summer and it costs nothing.

Five minutes on foot northwest to the market.

TorvehallerneKBH

Lunch. Two glass halls on Frederiksborggade with a strip of produce and flower stalls running between them, and enough choice that you will stand there for ten minutes unable to decide.

The two longest queues are always the pulled pork sandwich stall and the smørrebrød counter, which tells you what to order. I went for the smørrebrød, obviously. Prices sit slightly above average but the quality holds up, and it is still cheaper than a sit-down restaurant for better food. There is seating inside and public benches out front.

The bread and cheese stalls are a genuine highlight. Vegetarians will find the options thinner than they should be.

Give it 45 minutes to an hour. Longer if you buy fruit for later, which you should.

Eight minutes on foot southeast to Købmagergade.

The Round Tower

After lunch, and the climb is the point. No stairs. A wide spiral ramp winds almost the whole way up, which means you arrive at the top without being out of breath, a rare thing in European towers. There is a short set of steps right at the end with a red light system so people do not collide.

Halfway up there is a gallery with an exhibition, and something about Ole Rømer measuring the speed of light from this building, which I found more interesting than I expected to.

At the top, 360 degrees over red roofs and spires. Sixty kroner. Honest verdict, the tower is not tall enough to give you drama, you are looking at rooftops rather than a skyline, and the protective bars sit in the way. On a clear day you can see the Øresund Bridge and Sweden beyond it. That is the bonus.

Give it 30 to 45 minutes. Then ten minutes on foot southwest to Tivoli.

Tivoli Gardens

Early evening, around 6. Tivoli does not open until 11 anyway and the whole place transforms once the lights come on, so going late is not a compromise, it is the better plan.

Check the app before you buy anything. Rides go out of service without warning and the app does not show wait times, so you are guessing. I have queued 30 minutes for the green coaster and thought it fair. Entry and rides are separate costs, and the unlimited ride wristband only makes sense if you are actually going to ride things.

Here is the thing nobody tells you. Tivoli is less an amusement park than a garden with rides in it, plus concert stages, a food hall and some very good restaurants. The Illuminations show at 10.30 is the reason to stay to closing.

Four hours disappears here easily. Give it three at minimum.

Fifteen minutes on foot northeast to the canal for a last glass.

Ved Stranden 10

Last stop of a long day. Ved Stranden 10 sits on the canal opposite Christiansborg, a wine bar in an old townhouse where the list runs deep into natural and low intervention bottles and the staff will happily talk you through it if you ask.

Go in with no plan. Say roughly what you like, let them pour something, sit outside on the canal edge if the weather allows and inside in the low-ceilinged rooms if it does not.

One glass. Maybe two. Then walk back.

By then it was close to midnight and the streets of Indre By were empty in that Northern European way where a whole capital city just quietly goes to bed. I walked back to the hotel along the canal and did not see more than five people. That is Copenhagen at the end of a good day.

Day 2, Christianshavn and the Harbour Edge

Day two crosses the water and stays there. Christianshavn first, with its canal that looks like someone airlifted Amsterdam in overnight, then out east to Refshaleøen where the old shipyards have turned into art halls and food containers. This is the day the trip stops feeling like a checklist. Bring a swimsuit if it is warm, I am not joking.

Church of Our Saviour

First stop of day two, and book the time slot. The church opens at 11 and the tower sells out, including for Copenhagen Card holders, so the card alone will not get you up there.

Four hundred steps, ninety metres. The first half is narrow wooden stairs inside. Then you step out onto an external spiral that runs counterclockwise around the outside of the spire, getting tighter and shallower as you climb, until at the very top only one person can stand there. Chest-high railings. Wind. If you have any fear of heights, do not do this. I mean it.

If you do it, the view over Christianshavn and the harbour is the best in the city. Halfway up there is a small room with an animated film about how the thing was built.

Give it 45 minutes to an hour including the queue for the descent. Two minutes on foot north to the canal.

Overgaden Oven Vandet

Mid-morning, and this is a street rather than an attraction, which is exactly why I am putting it here.

Overgaden Oven Vandet runs along the north bank of Christianshavn Canal. Houseboats, small wooden dinghies tied to the quay, eighteenth century townhouses painted in ochre and grey, and almost no tour groups because there is nothing to buy a ticket for. Walk it slowly to the end and come back down the other side on Overgaden Neden Vandet if you want the full loop.

This is the bit of Copenhagen people mean when they say the city is beautiful and then fail to explain why.

Give it 20 to 30 minutes. Sit on the canal wall for part of it.

Five minutes on foot east to Christiania.

Freetown Christiania

Around midday. Christiania is a self-governing community occupying an old military barracks site, founded in 1971, and it does not look like anywhere else in the city. Hand-built houses, murals across every flat surface, workshops, a couple of decent vegetarian cafés and a lot of dogs.

Rules matter here. No photographs in certain areas, and the signs make this very clear. Respect them.

Walk in through the main gate on Prinsessegade and then get off the main drag as fast as you can. The interesting part is the lakeside path at the back where the self-built homes are, some of them genuinely inventive pieces of architecture.

Give it an hour, two if you eat there. I would not stay longer than 90 minutes unless something catches you.

Twenty minutes on foot northeast along Refshalevej, or take the 2A bus if the weather has turned.

Copenhagen Contemporary

After lunch, out on Refshalevej in an old welding hall. The scale is the appeal. Enormous industrial space, high ceilings, room for installations that would not fit in a normal museum, and the curation is better than the location suggests.

Be warned that contemporary art is contemporary art. There was a pile of bricks presented as a major work when I went, and I stood in front of it for a polite thirty seconds. But the large light and atmosphere pieces are the real draw, and if there is a James Turrell room installed, expect a long wait. An hour is not unusual. There are chairs.

Check what is actually open before buying a ticket. People have turned up to find two halls closed and paid full price anyway.

Give it 90 minutes to two hours. Five minutes on foot to the containers.

Reffen

Early evening, and this is where the day earns itself. Reffen is a village of shipping containers on the Refshaleøen waterfront, dozens of food stalls, craft beer bars, fire pits, lounge chairs pushed right to the water’s edge facing the city.

The Afghan stall does aubergines that people rave about. The fish and chips has the lightest batter I have had anywhere, and the duck fat fries are a mistake I would make again. Passion fruit lemonade if you are not drinking. Portions are generous and the prices are fair by Copenhagen standards, which is a low bar but still.

Come earlier rather than later if you want a seat by the water for sunset. By 8 on a summer Saturday the good chairs are gone.

Give it 90 minutes to two hours. Ten minutes on foot west along the water.

La Banchina

Last stop. La Banchina is tiny, a wooden deck on the harbour with a handful of tables so close together you will hear the next conversation whether you want to or not. That is the charm, apparently, and after a glass of their orange wine I agreed.

The menu changes nightly. Oysters, grilled fish, organic and Danish, and a natural wine list far better than the size of the place justifies. Prices are steep for what arrives. I have had a fish burger here that was genuinely too oily. I have also had oysters that made the whole evening.

But people do not really come for the food. They come to swim off the dock, dry off in the sun, and stay for hours.

I sat there until the light went completely, which in June is somewhere around eleven. Ferry back to the centre from Refshaleøen, and that was day two.

Day 3, Nørrebro, Vesterbro and a Good Last Meal

The last day is the local one. Brunch in Vesterbro, a cemetery that functions as a park, a park that functions as an argument about urban design, then back to the centre for coffee and a bridge. Dinner is in the old meatpacking district. It is the least monumental day and probably my favourite.

Mad & Kaffe

First stop, and book a table. I cannot stress this enough. People queue an hour here on weekends and the reservation costs you nothing.

The system is the gimmick and it works. You get a paper menu and tick 3, 5 or 7 small items to build your own board. Salmon, sausage, avocado, yoghurt, a tart, whatever. The bread is the best thing on the list. Prices are locked to whichever tier you choose, drinks separate.

Fair warning, service can be brisk to the point of rude if you arrive near a kitchen changeover, and they charge 30 kroner for a pitcher of tap water. Donated to the Red Cross, they say.

The location on Sønder Boulevard is half the pleasure. Take your coffee out to the green strip down the middle of the street and sit with the locals.

Give it an hour. Fifteen minutes by bike or a short bus north to Nørrebro.

Assistens Cemetery

Mid-morning. Calling it a cemetery undersells what this is. It is a walled park in the middle of Nørrebro where people picnic on the grass, cycle the marked paths and read on benches under the apple trees, and yes, there are also graves.

Hans Christian Andersen is buried here. So is Kierkegaard. The sections are labelled alphabetically with maps posted throughout showing where the famous plots are, which saves a lot of aimless wandering. Small honest complaint, most of the notable headstones have been replaced with modern versions, so the historical feeling is thinner than you would hope.

Stick to the hard paths if it has rained. The dirt ones between plots turn to mud.

Give it 30 to 45 minutes. Ten minutes on foot north up Nørrebrogade.

Superkilen Park

Before lunch. Superkilen was built with the local community and fills the space with objects collected from all over the world, because Nørrebro is the most international part of the city and the park is making a point about it. A Moroccan fountain. Thai swings. A neon sign from Russia.

Three sections. The Red Square, which is where the skaters are and where the best people-watching happens. The Black Market with its chess tables and octopus-patterned ground. The Green Park for picnics.

It is more interesting as an idea than as a place to linger, if I am honest. Twenty minutes and you have seen it.

Photographs come out well here, which is clearly part of the design.

From here, bus or bike back to the centre, around 15 minutes.

Coffee Collective Bernikow

Mid-afternoon. Coffee Collective roast their own and the Bernikow branch sits in a covered courtyard just off Kristen Bernikows Gade, central but somehow quiet, with outdoor seating that stays usable in bad weather.

Order the hand brew if you have the patience. The Gesha is the one people take a bag of home. Espresso and cappuccino are both properly made, smooth, not bitter, and the baristas will talk fermentation with you at length if you show the slightest interest.

One small note. There is no music playing. Just cups and cutlery. Some people find it calming and some find it strange.

Give it 30 minutes, longer if you sit outside with a pastry.

Fifteen minutes on foot northwest to the bridge, or a short bus.

Dronning Louises Bro

Around 6, when the light starts going. Dronning Louises Bro is the bridge between Nørrebro and the city centre, crossing the lakes, and on any warm evening it fills up with people sitting on the wide stone edges with beers from the corner shop.

There is nothing to see. That is the point.

You sit, you watch an absurd volume of bicycles go past in both directions, the water goes pink, and you understand something about how this city actually lives that no museum will tell you. It is one of the busiest cycling stretches in the world and watching the evening rush is genuinely entertaining.

Give it 20 to 30 minutes. Bring a drink.

From here, taxi or a 20 minute walk southwest to the meatpacking district.

Kødbyens Fiskebar

Dinner, and book ahead. Fiskebar sits in the old meatpacking district in Vesterbro, all concrete and industrial bones, which makes the cooking feel like even more of a surprise when it arrives.

Order the sourdough with seaweed butter first. Non-negotiable. The razor clams with basil oil come plated like a flower in a green pool and are the dish I still think about. Oysters from Limfjord, blue mussels, whatever raw fish is seasonal that week.

Not everything lands. The langoustine at 345 kroner arrives finely chopped and wrapped in pickled carrot, and at that price I want to actually taste the langoustine. Some of the expensive plates are style over substance.

Service is efficient even when packed, and they will take something off the bill without argument if a dish misses.

Give it two hours. It is a good last meal, and the walk back through Vesterbro afterwards is the right way to finish three days.

Three days is enough for Copenhagen if you stop trying to add a fourth neighbourhood to each one. The city rewards slow, which is not a word I use often, and it rewards walking more than anything else. Book Rosenborg, book the church tower, book Mad & Kaffe, and let the rest of it happen.

If I had a fourth day I would take the train up to Louisiana, or just repeat day two entirely. Tell me what you would swap out. I am always curious which places other people fell for and which ones they thought were a waste of an afternoon.